Dana Liebelson published an in-depth piece in Mother Jones today, examining the underpinnings of the Religious Right’s campaign to pass “Jim Crow-style” laws around the nation, enshrining anti-gay discrimination in an effort to fight against the tidal wave of marriage equality and LGBT acceptance crossing the United States. Truth Wins Out has been sounding the alarm on false claims of religious persecution over the past year, and TWO’s Evan Hurst was interviewed for the article:

Kansas set off a national firestorm last week when the GOP-controlled House passed a bill that would have allowed anyone to refuse to do business with same-sex couples by citing religious beliefs. The bill, which covered both private businesses and individuals, including government employees, would have barred same-sex couples from suing anyone who denies them food service, hotel rooms, social services, adoption rights, or employment—as long as the person denying the service said he or she had a religious objection to homosexuality. As of this week, the legislation was dead in the Senate. But the Kansas bill is not a one-off effort.

Republicans lawmakers and a network of conservative religious groups has been pushing similar bills in other states, essentially forging a national campaign that, critics say, would legalize discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Republicans in Idaho, Oregon, South Dakota, and Tennessee recently introduced provisions that mimic the Kansas legislation. And Arizona,Hawaii, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Mississippi have introduced broader “religious freedom” bills with a unique provision that would also allow people to deny services or employment to LGBT Americans, legal experts say.

“This is a concerted campaign that the religious Right has been hinting at for a couple of years now,” says Evan Hurst, associate director of Truth Wins Out, a Chicago-based nonprofit that promotes gay rights. “The fact that they’re doing it Jim Crow-style is remarkable, considering the fact that one would think the GOP would like to be electable among people under 50 sometime in the near future.”

What follows is an examination of exactly what groups are pushing — and in some cases, writing — these discriminatory bills. The American Religious Freedom Program, one of the primary organizations behind the bills, believe that they are not supporting discrimination, but simply “finding the balance” between religious freedom and LGBT equality. We disagree:

[Brian] Walsh [head of the American Religious Freedom Program] told Mother Jones he believes these bills, particularly the one in Kansas, have been misunderstood, and the aim is not to facilitate discrimination against the LGBT community. “Our goal—and we suspect the goal of others—has been to try to find the right balance between fully protecting religious freedom and other civil liberties so that both sides of the marriage debate can coexist harmoniously,” he says. But Eunice Rho, advocacy and policy counsel for the ACLU, takes a different stance: “These bills are discriminatory, pure and simple.”

“This seems to be a concerted Hail Mary campaign to carve out special rights for religious conservatives so that they don’t have to play by the same rules as everyone else does,” says Hurst, from Truth Wins Out. “In this new up-is-down world, anti-gay religious folks are ‘practicing their faith’ when they’re baking cakes or renting out hotel rooms to travelers. On the ground, [these bills] hurt real, live LGBT people.”

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3 Comments

Rick ZajacFebruary 21, 2014 at 9:28 am -

I can’t wait to read about an inter-racial couple refused service because it offends the “religious beliefs” of a store owner. That should prove to be very interesting. One could take this to it’s most illogical extreme and I doubt the legislators proposing these stupid laws even considered the possibilities. I, for one, happen to keep a strict fast during Great Lent. Any meat and dairy eaters here…get out of my establishment! Observant Jews, Muslims and pork; unmarried couple living together in sin…get out! Adulterers too. Your theology isn’t my theology, sorry; go away. Of course, we all know the point of these idiotic laws but it will blow up in their faces. If they ever get passed.

George M Melby, Pastor/ChaplainFebruary 21, 2014 at 9:36 am -

I have the dubious calling in life to be an ordained Christian minister. Dubious, because we are all supposed to be Christian in our attitude towards all people. I remember well hearing and reading about how Christians were going to be persecuted, starting with the Biblical stories and the stories propagated by the old 40s-60s church sermonizing. Jesus had them in Biblical times and he dealt with the Zealots and Pharisees in his own way. Jesus suffered because he did good things for people, no matter what their station in life.
In our present day lives, we have also been vilified and persecuted, but LO AND BEHOLD, it isn’t the government that persecutes the Christian people. The vilification and hate has come from our own ranks, better known as the christian religious extremists and Fundamentalist patrons in our midst, although small in number but (personal word invention) screechingly vocal, none the less. So those who are screaming “Foul” are not the victims at all… they are the perpetrators, just as the Scribes and Pharisees in the Old/New Testament.
Well, it has come to pass… and, in time, this shall also shall fade into the background of life.
What is interesting are the new laws using Christianity as an excuse to support laws of religious persecution against anyone or anything the American christian Taliban thinks is going to persecute them. As Kansas has proven quickly, this is not going to fly… anywhere, and will hit the Courts faster than a New York second. And rightly so. No one can promote prejudice and bias just because they do not agree with the people the laws affect. What a horrible waste of government time and taxpayers’ money to expect such drivel.

John FisherFebruary 21, 2014 at 1:09 pm -

Well said. Knew about Lent, did not know there is a Great Lent, hafta go look that one up…..

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Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that fights the "ex-gay" myth and antigay religious extremism.

TWO monitors anti-LGBT organizations, documents their lies and exposes wrongdoing. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for truth, integrity, and equality for sexual minorities.